CHICAGO -- After Edward Cabrera’s opening fastball in the fourth inning sailed high on Wednesday night, Cubs catcher Carson Kelly tossed the ball back to the pitcher and immediately looked in the direction of the home dugout. Cubs manager Craig Counsell was already en route to the mound.
Cabrera exited his outing in a 5-0 loss to the Brewers after that pitch due to what the team announced as a blister on his right middle finger. That certainly seemed to be good news, given the extent of the injury issues that have piled up for the Cubs’ rotation and bullpen throughout the first two months of the season.
“I just went out there with a competitive mindset,” Cabrera said via team translator, Fredy Quevedo Jr. “I went out there and I said, ‘I’m fine.’ I felt fine. It was good. And once we got to the fourth inning, that’s when I felt it the most.”
Counsell noted that Cabrera had been dealing with the blister prior to Wednesday’s outing, but has been able to manage the issue so far. While the specific timeline for the small setback is not clear, Cabrera has a 5.55 ERA in his five most recent outings, compared to a 2.73 ERA in his first five turns of the year.
Counsell said Cabrera’s next start is potentially in jeopardy, but the pitcher expressed optimism about being able to get back out on the mound on schedule.
“I’m not worried,” Cabrera said. “My mentality is in five days I’m going to go out there.”
That first-pitch fastball to Milwaukee’s Joey Ortiz was also alarming on the surface, as it only clocked in at 92.5 mph, per Statcast. That was a noticeable drop from Cabrera’s average fastball velocity in the game (95.5 mph) and on the season (95.7 mph). The righty hit a max speed of 97.8 mph with the pitch in the outing.
Through 10 starts this year in his debut season with the Cubs, the 28-year-old Cabrera has turned in a 4.00 ERA with 47 strikeouts and 20 walks in 54 innings. His strikeout rate has been down (21.3%) from last season (25.8%), when he also averaged 97 mph with his four-seamer in a breakout campaign with the Marlins.
In Wednesday’s start, Cabrera left with four runs (one earned) on his line in three-plus innings, in which he struck out two, walked two and surrendered four hits. Three runs came in the second, when center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong made a fielding gaffe that led to a Little League-style homer from David Hamilton.
Reliever Trent Thornton took over for Cabrera in the fourth inning.
The Cubs certainly were not going to take any chances with Cabrera dealing with a setback -- not with lefty Matthew Boyd (left knee) on the 15-day IL at the moment. Chicago is also without righty Cade Horton (right elbow surgery) for the season and is not expecting lefty Justin Steele (left flexor strain) until some point in the second half.
“Once the blister is there, it’s difficult,” Cabrera said. “The control is difficult. The velocity is difficult. Everything is much more difficult once the blister is there.”
The hope now is that Cabrera is not sidelined for too long.
“It’s something that he’s dealt with a little bit,” Counsell said. “It just got worse tonight -- to the point where it was clearly affecting his command, as much as anything. We tried to do something after the third inning and it just didn’t work. You could tell. The first pitch could have told you he wasn’t going to be able to continue.”